Vikas Ranjan, Prasant and Himanshu were brutally beaten with iron rods and then shot from point-blank range in front of a public telephone booth in Sammelan Market, Patna, on December 29. Patna police had initially claimed that they had shot three members of a notorious gang after an encounter.

Following a public outcry, the Rabri Devi government transferred the case to the CBI.

According to the CBI, the three who had gone to a booth owned by Kamlesh to make some calls, had heated arguments with him as they felt they had been over-charged. They went away after other shopkeepers pacified them.

They returned later and picked up an argument with Kamlesh. The altercation took an ugly turn when Kamlesh, his brother-in-law Anil and other shopkeepers started beating the three with rods. The youths soon slumped to the ground.

A police team, headed by Alam, later arrived on the scene. Alam fired seven rounds, killing the youths. He told senior officers he had eliminated three criminals in an encounter and placed two country-made revolvers and cartridges. But the ballistic report said the cartridges and the revolvers did not match.